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Monthly Archives: October 2012

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Sorry for following off the blog world for a week! It’s been an emotional week and I just couldn’t find the energy to sit down and type up a post, but I’m back and better than ever! I promise never to fall off the wagon again 😉

Sooo where were we?! Let me just recap the week a teeny bit. So the weekend consisted of some work, dinner with my Dad, football game with friends and some more work. Not to exciting don’t worry! Honestly I’ve been slacking in the workout category, which means I’ve been slacking on training, I told y’all it’s been a rough week. I’m back to routine though which meant a 3 mile run for me this morning. Felt sooo good to be back to running, I forgot how much better running makes me feel. I’m not finding that I have as much pain in my calves as I was having and it feels amazing to be able to run without having to stop and quickly massage my calves! And in other running news, I signed up for the Turkey Trot. It’s official. I’m doin’ it! I was apprehensive about running on Thanksgiving, why I’m not sure but I think it comes down to I’m usually lazy as heck on Thanksgiving and spend the day loungin’ on the couch watching parades and football until it’s time to get ready to head out for dinner but I’m actually jazzed to be running and think it’ll be a fabulous new tradition I’m starting.

Breakfast this morning was a waffle bowl. Not joking, I ate my waffle from a bowl. Peanut butter in the middle and no syrup on top because I was out…sad day 😦 and a side of yogurt for creamy goodness

I’m so excited for this weekend and I’m hoping tonights shift at work goes quickly! Tomorrow is my old high schools Homecoming and as an alumni and a former cheerleader it’s always my favorite game!

babies!

How’s that for a throwback?! 4 years ago! I so miss getting fancy for dances, pictures and just having a great time! Friday is just the start of my weekend though, Saturday is a busy busy day! Early morning call for Stagecoach tickets, they go on sale at 10 a.m, then breakfast with my friends, my “little brothers” homecoming pre-pictures, my current schools biggest football game, and then the highlight of the night…first Halloween Party! I live for dressing up and can not wait to rock my costume! You can just call me Katy that night 😉 I’ll be by tomorrow, don’t worry it’s back to a daily thing! Have a great Thursday y’all!

Today it rained! If you’ve read any of my past posts you know I’ve been anxiously awaiting fall weather and today, it finally happened!

evidence of fall weather

You better believe that I was off the chain excited! Prepare yourselves ladies and possibly gents for a post full of pictures! Today was jam packed, the only time I got to myself was this morning for yoga and right now as I type up this post, BUT I didn’t mind, I love busy bee type of days! I started this morning off with an 8 am yoga class. I haven’t had much time for yoga this week so I was excited for it this morning. I’m starting to feel stronger, er sore, in muscles I forgot I had! I’m lovin this months challenge so far! After yoga I rushed home ate a yogurt bowl which I sadly forgot to photograph but it consisted of strawberry Chobani, blueberries and a handful of banana nut granola tossed on top. After a shower and some emails I was out the door running. I met my Mom at Macaroni Grill for a quick lunch. They have such a good deal for lunch, you can get half of a pasta and a side salad for 8 dollars! Bargain eating is the way to go! I chose a side of Cesar salad and a half of Carmelas Chicken pasta which is penne pasta, chicken, mushrooms, and onions in a Marsala sauce! Yum! Seriously how good does that lunch look?! So nice to see my Mama in the middle of the day and catch up! 🙂 After lunch it was off to Biola to meet a friend for coffee! And yet, my day is not even half over! After coffee it was time to speed race to the mall to meet up with my co-worker Brittney for some shopping! I nearly peed my pants when I saw this store being set up…Y’all recognize that place?! Hello Harry and David I’m so excited to see you! I seriously LOVE this store. I’m such a foodie. There peppermint bark is on point and every year I receive it in my stocking at Christmas. You better believe I’ll be in this store multiple times this Christmas season! After a stop for iced tea at Corner Bakery, some time in Zara and a peek in H&M, we ended up in no other place than Nordstrom. Think we’d be sick of it huh? Clearly we’re both off our rockers. Perks of being employees means we get to try on jewelry and not anger associates when we don’t buy so of course we did just that…Look at that beauty! I wish it was real, but sadly I’m not engaged and am completely lacking a man friend all together! Sick of pictures yet? Hopefully not because my day is STILL not over! Yes, I’m serious right now! After saying goodbye to Britt I met up with Shannon, y’all know who that is, for some pumpkin patch fun! I’m not even kidding when I saw this pumpkin patch was awesome! They had giant inflatable jump’s that were seriously calling my name! I’m determined to come back with my baby cousin and jump for days! Clearly I was trying to top last years pumpkin! But for 32 dollars this pumpkin would not be coming home with me. I settled for a three dollar mini that you can see in the bottom right of the picture! Can’t wait to carve that baby! It’s been an exhausting day and after hitting publish on this post I’m hitting the hay! See y’all tomorrow! So glad it’s Friday, TGIF TGIF!

Oh, and one last picture because why not! After raining all day we were left with one heck of a gorgeous sunset…Night y’all!

When I thought of the title of this post I seriously typed “Monday Funday” into the subject bar and then thought that can’t be right. Clearly it’s been a long day, but a good day! And it’s Tuesday not Monday which means one day closer to Friday 🙂 Before I tell you about my delicious dinner let’s rewind to last night! I ended up meeting up with 3 of my close friends for an ice cream date around 9. I told y’all I live for ice cream and froyo. After devouring eating our ice cream we all decided it was a perfect night for a spontaneous hike. Yes, I said hike. and yes it was 10 p.m. If you’ve never been on a night hike I recommend you round up the troops and plan one ASAP. They’re amazing. Especially when you reach the top and look out at all the city lights. Personally I’m a city lights type of girl, I’d take that view over an ocean view any day. Call me crazy, it’s cool. Anyway, we ended up at the top of this hill and the view was breath taking. The hike itself wasn’t hard, I was breathing deeply when we got to the top though. The climb was pretty much vertical to the top. Okay, I’m exaggerating but it was pretty steep! Look at this view…and this view…Loved the spontaneous adventure with my friends! We’re definitely going to have to make night hikes more of a weekly thing! 🙂

But now lets move on to today, which is Tuesday in case you’re like me and forget the days of the week! I opened this morning at work and knew I had dinner plans this evening so I started the day with an early morning gym sesh. 3.5 miles for me! It’s back to pain in my calves, not unbearable as it has been but pretty stinkin’ painful. I just ordered a pair of compression sleeves off Amazon and I’m hoping those will help with the pain! Breakfast this morning was an old standby…yogurt, in the car as I drove to work.Yogurt for breakfast is always delish 🙂 But now let me tell you about this AMAZING place I had dinner at tonight! I met up with an old friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in oh, two years. She chose the place we were going to and I was excited to try something new. Gyu-Kaku is where we ended up. Don’t ask me the correct pronunciation of the name because I have no clue! The restaurant is korean? I think and you sit at tables with grills in the middle and cook your own food. Kind of like this…source

That isn’t our table but it’s exactly how it looked and now you’ll get the full picture! We ordered garlic noodles as an appetizer and split them. For our main course we ordered two different types of beef, one more think and the other more like bacon, garlic shrimp, and zucchini. They bring the food to you raw and you’re in charge of cookin’ it up! It’s such a fun atmosphere and cooking really opens up the conversation, not that we were struggling, but there’s just something about cooking that brings out conversation. It’d be a great place for a date! We plowed through our food and decided to treat ourselves to some dessert! It was girls night out, why not! I failed to snap photo’s of our actual food as I was to involved in conversation but remembered for dessert. We ordered smore’s to cook over the fire! Yum! This place was seriously so fun and I can’t wait to go back! I’m off to bed, early workout on the books tomorrow! See ya in the a.m!

Stadium all the way! I love the energy in a stadium, whether it’s NFL or plain ol’ high school nothing beats being there for the action!

Favorite football team to cheer for?

Tough one. In the NFL, San Diego Chargers and the Broncos. San Diego by default, I’m from So. Cal and the Broncos because I love Peyton Manning. I’m still loyal to my high school team, go Mustangs!

Meet my Dad!

Daylight Savings Time – love it or hate it?

Love it for the extra hour of sleep, hate it for the loss of sunshine!

How do your workouts change (if at all) during the fall months?

I usually just workout at the gym so the seasons don’t usually change them. I’m trying to incorporate running outdoors more now that I’m training for my half so I guess it getting darker earlier will force me to run in the 6 o’clock hour. Ugh does that time even exist?

It’s been a full week of Courtney’s yoga challenge and it’s been a great one! I’ll give you my recap in a sec but lets cover the basics first! Breakfast came in the form of yogurt this morning! I’ve been really into greek yogurt and have been buying Chobani every time I’m at the grocery store so when I saw that yoplait was on sale I decided to change it up a bit and go the traditional route! I love flavored yogurt and key lime pie is on point. It’s one of my favorite desserts so I’m not surprised I love it as yogurt for breakfast! This week is off to a fabulous start because it’s cloudy out and chilly! They’re even calling for rain on Thursday! Notice anything about this photo? Yes I’m wearing a fleece! Freaking finally! I’ve been waiting for the moment fall weather hits oh since, July! I’m wearing it all day in honor of this fall style weather. After my workout I had errands to run aka peruse the aisles of Target for things I don’t need. Starbucks iced coffee gave me the fuel for my excursion. I’m not sure how well it’s displayed but I tested out a new headband today, a Zella one from Nordstrom. I have an oddly shaped head and headbands tend to fall fling off my head when I’m running. Verdict on this one: A plus plus plus! I ran four miles and it didn’t budge once even when my hair was sweaty sweaty! For ten dollars this headband gets two thumbs up from me! And speaking of workout, because of a late night last night I ran my distance run this morning. Four miles for this girl today! My calves were feeling good but somewhere around mile 2 I started getting a dull ish pain in my back, not sure where it came from but it lasted until I stepped off the treadmill. Maybe I have bad running posture? Any of you runners out there wanna help a sista out and give me some clues as to why this might be happening. I have plans to take a body pump class this evening but with the way the weather is I might just end up curling up on the couch watching Friends.

October Yoga Challenge

Week one: Complete! I’m really glad I decided to participate in Courtney’s challenge. The stretching I get from yoga is really helping the other areas of my workouts, including my training. I used to do hot yoga five or six times a week but pushed it to the side when I started working more, I loved it but finding the time became a challenge. This week I took 3 hot yoga classes. I attend the Intro to power yoga at a Corepower studio near my house. The room is slightly heated and I love the feeling of being drenched in my own sweat at the end. (how gross am I, right?) I took 3 hot yoga classes this week and my body felt amazing! I missed the early morning class this morning and was a little bummed till I found out my gym offers yoga at 10 which put it right after my run. I consider myself a decent yogi and have no problem getting through a hot yoga class but this morning was tough. I was dead after the class. I rarely stop and this morning I found myself in childs pose multiple times. I’m not sure if it was because I had just ran four miles or what but I felt weak. It was totally humbling for me to get my butt kicked in a form of exercise I consider “easy.” I was feeling it today y’all. I’m pumped for the next 4 weeks though and hope that this challenge inspires me to continue to make yoga a priority!

I’m off to do some laundry and possibly take a nap, I’m so thankful for days off! I’ll be back lata 🙂

Today’s post idea comes straight from on of my favorite girls, Natalie! But first, lets recap last night shall we? Last night was my high schools (I’m an alumni) biggest football game of the season. Battle of the Bell against cross town rival Estancia. We have a huge rivalry and even as alumni it’s fun to go back and get in the high school spirit again. Unfortunately, we lost. Only by two though, and not necessarily by player error more of a coaching error. I was sitting in the stands screaming “I could coach this game better.” Yes I do get into football, I have no shame! Even though we lost I still had a great time catching up with old friends. Say Hi to Shannon She’s an old friend but we’re still friends and see each other 5 or 6 times a week! This morning I had the special treat of going out to breakfast with my Dad. I’m fortunate enough that even though my parents are divorced I still live close to both my parents and see them often. We had breakfast at Side Street Cafe and it is seriously the most adorable place ever! There menu’s are handwritten on blue paper! Seriously how cute? The whole restaurant had a straight out of Texas feel and I was loving it! The food was delicious as well, and that’s the most important part right? I went with the Denver scramble. 2 eggs, ham, bell peppers, and onions with a side of potatoes and of course toast! Such a good breakfast! I’m full and happy! 🙂

5 x 5 For Saturday

5 TV shows that I am really happy are back for the fall season:

1. The Big Bang Theory

2. New Girl

3. Criminal Minds

4. Law and Order: SVU

5. Football! Does that count as a TV show?

I still can’t wait for the Bachelor in the winter, hellllllo beautiful Sean! 😉

5 songs that I sing at the top of my lungs when I’m driving in the car alone:

1. Dirt Road Anthem by Jason Aldean

2. Your Song by Elton John

3. Drunk on You by Luke Bryan

4. Any Song by Adele

5. Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift (Any T Swift song actually)

I listen to worship music on Sunday’s and find myself belting out those songs as well! I look like a freak when I drive.

5 things I’m looking forward to this month:

1. HALLOWEEN. Enough said, right?

2. Homecoming. College style!

3. My best friend Chelsea comes home!

4. Colder weather. I know I say this AAAAALLL the time but really it’s starting to happen!

5. Paranormal Activity 4 comes out. (Yes, I’m that lame)

5 Healthy Living Goals:

1. Run a half-marathon. (Give in, right?)

2. Incorporate more strength training and make it a point to get to a BodyPump class once a week!

3. Continue with yoga. I’m doing Courtney’s yoga challenge and the stretching is helping so much. I really need to continue to make it a priority to get my booty there at least three times a week. (Recap coming tomorrow!)

4. Run a sub 8 minute mile! I’m not about speed for my half, I just want to finish it. But I would really like to work on my speed for short distances.

5. Continue to focus on how I’m feeling not the number on the scale.

5 blogger friends that I can’t wait to meet in real life:

The last two bloggers are bloggers I’ve followed for close to year and I’d love to finally get to meet them! I’d love to meet all these inspirational women and hope somehow we can make it happen! 🙂 Healthy Living Bloggers vacation, ladies?!

What’re some of your 5 X 5? Any fave TV shows? Healthy living goals? Any bloggers you’d like to meet in person? Share!

I’m popping in a little earlier than usual today to share lunch and an update about Self Esteem: Sunday. Remember, I was trying to give up focusing on my weight as a number and focus more on how I’m feeling, it’s been four days and I’m ready to give ya’ll an update. But first, lets talk everyone’s favorite subject: food! It’s been awhile since I had fish for any meal and because I’m at my parents before work this afternoon I decided to take full advantage of the fish sittin in the freezer! I decided to have a bigger lunch than usual and make use of the veggies in the fridge! I seasoned a salmon filet with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some Mrs. Dash. On the side I tossed broccoli in olive oil and garlic salt and popped both of them in the oven for 15 minutes. I love mushrooms and because my parents had them in the refrigerator I decided to make the best of them and throw em in the mix. I sauteed them on the stove with some Worcestershire sauce! To round it out, a small spooning of jasmin rice that I clearly forgot to take with me. Lunch was satisfying! That nasty looking stone thing my plate is sitting on would be my pizza stone and I promise I’m trying to get better at taking photos!

Self Esteem Sunday: Update

I decided to give up on the scale to focus more on how I was feeling rather than the number on the scale which honestly was becoming discouraging because the number wasn’t going down as much as I’d like even though I was feeling fantastic! I would love to be able to report back and say “I did not get on the scale once since Sunday” but I believe in being completely honest with y’all and I have to admit: I got on the scale last night. I had a fabulous workout and I was feeling great so I thought whats the problem with just hoppin’ on to see the number. I am happy to report though that while the number hasn’t moved, it’s actually gone up I reminded myself that I was feeling fantastic and I didn’t let it affect my mood. I also remembered what Carrie told me: that I was going to increase muscle mass because I need muscle to run 13.1 miles and muscle “weighs” more than fat. So, after all this rambling I’d say this has been a success but I’m not satisfied just going four days. I’ll be back on Sunday with another update on how my whole week without the scale is going.

See y’all tomorrow morning. I’m off to work and then will be coming home to get a great nights sleep! Happy Thursday!

One more day till Friday, one more day till Fridaaayyy! That is the song I’ve been singing in my head all morning! I’m really looking forward to this Friday one, because I don’t close at work and two because it’s my old high schools biggest football game of the season! No, I’m not talking about Homecoming I’m talking about Battle of the Bell against our cross-town rival. I still live in the town I went to high school in so it’s always super fun to go back for the big football games. I’m going with my friends Shannon and Andrew and I’m pretty sure there will be tons of alumni there, pictures will follow on Saturday! 🙂 My morning started off on a great note! I originally set my alarm for 5 am but ended up snoozing it till 5:30. I wanted to get my run in early today because after work this evening I know I’m not going to want to get it in. Before heading off to the gym I gave myself a little fuel via a power crunch bar. I’m currently sampling a variety of power bars because I can’t seem to find one I love. I think they all taste like chalk. All you power bar lovers are probably cringing right now, huh? Well send some power bar suggestions my way and I’ll be happy to try them out!

pb is always good!

My verdict for this little guy…good but not great. It didn’t taste as chalky as I usually think they do and I liked the candy bar like taste but I’m not sold. I’ll be back on the hunt for a delicious power bar.

My past three runs have been calf pain free and I thought I had finally beat the excruciating pain but I knew when I woke up this morning and I could feel the tightness in them that it was back. And I was right. I admit I almost just gave up on the idea of getting to the gym at that moment, but because I had already interrupted my sleep and trudged my way to the car I decided to push through. I’m so glad I did! I felt good on my run, I stopped more frequently then I had been but that was just to get a little stretch in there. After the three miles passed I felt like I could have easily gone for four. Sunday will be four miles and is my second farthest run in marathon training.

I’m currently blogging from Starbucks and breakfast this morning came courtesy of them! For actual food I chose a peach and raspberry yogurt parfait. Delicious! Starbucks you always please me! I told y’all I’m a huge Starbucks fan! And because I know how crazy this day is going to be…or because I feel like it will be, Trenta Iced Coffee fo meI’m sure the amount of caffeine in this drink is going to have me bouncing off the walls today! Sidenote: I’m contemplating signing up for the Turkey Trot in Huntington Beach but I’m not sure how I feel about running a 10k on Thanksgiving morning. Mostly I just want to dress up like a turkey and get a race in before my half-marathon but I’m still on the fence. What do you all think? Have any of you ran in a turkey trot? Share with me! I’ll be back later with my self esteem Sunday update!

It’s back again this week! What I’m lovin’ Wednesday! But before I get to what I’m lovin’ lets cover the blog basics…you know food, my workout all that jazz! I ate an early dinner tonight and when I say early I’m talking 4 o’clock early. I didn’t intend to eat this early and usually I’d be starving around 8 but I’m still surprisingly full but with everything I had to accomplish on my day off that was just how the cookie crumbled. I met my friend Adam for lunch at Corner Bakery, a chain restaurant thats super popular over here in So Cal. I was flip-flopping between a the Santa Fe Ranch Salad and a half panini with mac and cheese. I decided to go with the panini and mac and cheese and I was super satisfied. In bad blogger fashion I forgot to snap a picture but that’s before I inhaled my morning meal. Sorry! Before my workout I met up with my friend Shannon for some froyo! It’s still mega hot out in So Cal so some cold goodness was just what I was craving. Pistachio froyo with cap’n crunch cereal, brownies and gummy worms fo me please!

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of frozen yogurt. Believe me, I’m surprised I haven’t turned into yogurt with the amount of it I consume. Sadly though, froyo and a workout aren’t a good combination. Running two miles on a belly full of froyo is not the business. I did however manage to push through and get in a great workout!

today’s stats!

After my run I hit up the weight room for some strength training! I jumped around on a variety of machines and managed to bust out an additional 30 minutes down there! Have I mentioned yet how glad I am to be back in the swing of things after being sick? It feels AMAZING to sweat again!

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday

In honor of the first week of October and what I consider to be the official kick off of the holiday season (I love them so much I like to celebrate for 3 whole months) you know I’m lovin the fact that I can start decorating! I picked up a baby pumpkin at Trader’s Monday and it’s now sitting so cute and fall-y on my table! I can’t wait for my pumpkin carving party!

I’m planning to make a run to Target before work tomorrow to stock up on some decorating essentials for the season!

Even though it happened on Saturday, I’m still loving the fact that I got to spend Saturday night with my best friend of 17 years celebrating her 21st birthday at one of the best concerts I’ve ever been too! I’m so thankful this girl is apart of my life, and I’m so thankful we get to do super fun things like this! I don’t know what I would do without these moments!

and the third thing I’m loving, a successful season for both my teams! Did you seriously think I was going to leave a football reference out of this post? I think I’ve told y’all I’m a HUGE football fan, I seriously turn into a boy for the 16 weeks of the season. I’m a Charger fan by default because I live in Southern California and I’m a Bronco’s fan because I LOVE Peyton Manning! Both of my teams are starting out strong and I’m totally hoping for one of them to make a super bowl appearance. I’m also totally stoked that both of them have beaten the Raiders 😉 37 was the magical number this Sunday 🙂 What’s your favorite team? I’d love to hear who you guys root for! This girl is off to bed because I have a 3 mile run on the books at 5 am tomorrow! See ya around breakfast time!

Happy National Mean Girls day y’all! Oh, and happy hump day, only two more days till the weekend! 🙂 Have I mentioned how much I love Mean Girls? Well I LOOOVE Mean Girls. I’ve seen it more times then I can count and I seriously can quote the entire movie. You know I was beyond stoked to find out today is National Mean Girls Day. “On October 3rd he asked me what day it is.” Yes, I plan to spend the entire day rattling off Mean Girls quotes! But waking up to find out it’s National Mean Girls wasn’t the only reason today is off to a spectacular start! I’m participating in Courtney’s yoga challenge! Which meant a yoga class for this girl this morning! I woke up at 6 am on my day off for a class, that is some dedication right there 😉 I’m pretty excited about participating in my first blogging challenge, if thats what you call it? I’m new to this whole blogging thing so sadly I’m not all up on the lingo. The class felt amazing. It felt AMAZING to get a deep stretch that I’m pretty sure my body was craving but I was ignoring. I’m feelin pretty good and I’m looking forward to my run this afternoon!

Breakfast this morning was a classic. Yogurt bowl with fruit for this girl. Growing up I ate yogurt so much I’m surprised I didn’t turn into a bowl of yogurt and somehow I still love the creamy deliciousness. Today’s agenda includes a haircut, lunch with my good friend Adam, and a 2 mile run! In bad blogger fashion I wasn’t able to pop in last night because something really awesome happened, I’m keeping it a secret until I can share photos with you guys, sorry for the teaser! But I’ll give you a short recap right here, right now! I worked. I ate soup at the cafe. I ran 3.5 miles. I slept. Such a simple day, except for the really exciting thing you’ll find out about in a few 🙂 I’ll be back later for What I’m Lovin Wednesday!

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Oh, Hey!

Hi! I'm Kelsey! I'm a 20 year old student living in sunny Southern California! Welcome to my blog! Kelseyruns follows my love for running, fitness, food and baking. As well as my love for my family and friends!

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